True Brothers

Before he could even finish speaking, whoosh, whoosh! It was as if two gusts of wind swept past him from his left and right, leaving him a bit dazed. In reality, the two volunteers his good brothers had recruited had already made their escape.

True brothers in heart, but when trouble comes, they're out of reach.

After quite a while, he finally snapped out of it, only to find that those two troublemaking buddies of his were nowhere to be seen. His plan to play the hero and save the beauty had completely fallen apart.

Fortunately, he finally got a clear look at the scene inside the shop.

Loris von Aldheim was sitting inside, staring at him with a calm gaze. It seemed she was out on a holiday excursion, and she wasn't alone.

The smile was still plastered on Alden's face, but it had frozen completely.

The corners of his mouth remained curled upward, but all trace of warmth had vanished from his eyes. He looked like a portrait a court painter had been ordered to stop working on halfway through, his features frozen in a smug expression.

But the underlying color had already turned to sheer panic.

It took him about two seconds to process the situation before him—this scene was definitely not in his script.

This was supposed to be a story where a commoner girl was harassed and a young noble lord stepped forward to defend her. The heroine was supposed to be Liliana, and the villains were supposed to be the two guys he had hired.

And he was supposed to be the hero.

But right now, the heroine wasn't here—it was just a rehearsal, after all—and the villains had changed too. Instead of his two brothers, it was the most terrifying little lioness, the person in the entire room who looked most like a villain—yes, Loris.

Which was me.

And I was resting my chin in my hand, slowly sizing him up with a look normally reserved for bugs on the side of the road.

Cafe Bystander A: “What are they doing?”

Cafe Bystander B: “Kids these days are so weird...”

A few quiet whispers drifted from around the cafe.

Right now, the silence between us was so heavy that one could hear the ticking of the second hand on the old-fashioned wall clock. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Even the shopkeeper stopped wiping her cups, leaning over the counter to watch the scene with great interest, likely treating it as some sort of free holiday theater.

“...Alden,” I finally spoke, my voice as gentle as a spring breeze rippling across a lake, yet it made his shoulders shudder. “What a coincidence.”

“You've been standing out there for so long. Aren't your legs tired?”

This single sentence was more than enough to show that I knew everything.

Alden's face turned from pale to blue, then from blue to green. He couldn't be sure that Loris wouldn't help Liliana. Even if they didn't get along in class, who knew if the young lady had some stubborn pride of her own? For instance, a rule that only she was allowed to defeat her rival, and no one else was permitted to lay a finger on her.

If she really had that kind of stubbornness, then Alden was completely finished today.

It took an immense amount of effort for him to readjust his expression and squeeze out a smile—though this smile had absolutely nothing to do with perfection, and the corners of his mouth were even twitching slightly.

“L-Loris,” his voice cracked into a nearly high-pitched, adolescent squeak. “What a coincidence. You're here for coffee too?”

“I'm here for coffee with my classmates.” I pointed to Misha beside me, then to Shirune opposite us. “But what about you? What were you doing out there with those two classmates I don't recognize?”

He was done for. The pressure was immense.

Cold sweat was already pouring down Alden's back.

Without a word, he took off his hat, bowed, turned around stiffly, and then bolted! His speed was even faster than before!

What a joke! Who would dare face that demon!

Staying here meant waiting to die, and trying to explain would only turn him into a free comedy show!

Alden fled in panic at lightning speed.

Watching them all vanish down the street, I let out a slightly helpless laugh. In the eyes of the other two, it probably looked like the regret of losing a toy, but that wasn't the case at all.

Speaking of which, was this incident considered resolved? Surprisingly, I wasn't stopped by the World's Will. Perhaps it was because this matter had absolutely nothing to do with Liliana.

After all, it was still morning.

She wasn't even here.

If only things could always be nipped in the bud like this.

By now, Misha had finally pieced together the whole show. Realizing those guys were acting out a play to 'save the beauty,' she felt nothing but contempt for the dirty tricks of noble young masters.

In any case, our coffee was finished.

The little interlude came to an end. I figured I would still come back to check in the afternoon, since there was no guarantee of a perfect conclusion.

As for now, I might as well go look around the Royal Capital with Misha.

After all, on a rare holiday, maybe I shouldn't be so calculating and scheming? I should just enjoy myself.

(Voiceover: Meanwhile, outside, the broad-shouldered boy ran all the way to a sunny street corner before finally stopping, doubled over with his hands on his knees as he panted heavily.

“H-H-How is she here?!”

His voice was thick with heavy gasps from running out of breath.

The boy with glasses caught up several beats later, running in a completely uncoordinated stagger. His round-rimmed glasses had slid down to the tip of his nose, but he didn't even bother to push them up.

“Whew, whew... How should I know?! I felt like something was off the moment we walked in. That carriage parked outside looked incredibly high-class!”

The two of them panted miserably for a good while before catching their breath.

“By the way, shouldn't we go back and save him?” Boy B suddenly asked, drenched in sweat.

The broad-shouldered boy whipped his head around to look at him. “Save him?”

“Alden is still inside.”

“We're brothers! He asked us for help, and more importantly, I haven't gotten that mechanical music box I wanted yet... Leaving him behind and running away like this isn't very loyal.”

The broad-shouldered boy's expression wavered. Rather than brotherly loyalty, he was likely thinking of the magic stone first. Those things were hard to come by. As scions of noble families, they weren't only children, so resources naturally had to be divided equally.

If Alden weren't friends with that upstart mine owner Klaus, he probably wouldn't have been able to get his hands on one either.

“You're right.”

He straightened up, brimming with righteous loyalty, and took a step back toward the alley entrance.

And then, he froze.

The image likely flashed through his mind: Loris von Aldheim resting her chin in her hand, an empty coffee cup beside her, and a half-demon maid with a longsword at her waist sitting opposite her—with an empty chair next to them, as if waiting for the next victim to deliver themselves.

And so, the step he had taken forward was promptly pulled back.

“No... I think it's already too late if we go back. Let's think about something more realistic than saving him! Sigh!”

“Like what?”

“In all likelihood, golden sunflowers would be appropriate to mourn him.”

Gulp. Boy B swallowed hard, catching the underlying meaning.

Just then, a figure came stumbling out from the depths of the alley. Thank goodness, he had actually escaped with his life.

Alden fled toward them like a stray dog.

His face had turned from a distorted pale to a distorted flush of anger. “You two sure ran fast—I hadn't even stepped through the door and you guys already surrendered!”

“Gah!” “Ah!”

“Dammit... This is going to be trouble, but I can't just give up like this. I have to, I absolutely have to think of another way. This is the best opportunity to get close to her...”)

...